Mark Robinson Sues CNN Over Porn Forum Claims

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • Republican North Carolina Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson filed a defamation lawsuit against CNN in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday, seeking $50M in damages.[1][2]
  • The lawsuit stems from a CNN report alleging Robinson made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website's message board over a decade ago. Robinson denies he made the posts.[2][3]
  • CNN claimed Robinson referred to himself as a 'black NAZI,' expressed enjoyment of transgender pornography, and made derogatory comments about Martin Luther King Jr.[3][4]
  • Robinson alleges CNN's report was reckless and defamatory, claiming the network published the claims despite knowing that his data had been 'previously compromised by multiple ... breaches.'[5][6][7]
  • Following the report, several Republican officials, including former Pres. Donald Trump, who had previously endorsed Robinson, distanced themselves from him.[2]
  • The lawsuit also names Louis Love Money, a Greensboro punk rock band singer, as a defendant, for making claims that Robinson was a frequent customer at a porn shop where Money worked in the 1990s and early 2000s.[2]

Sources: [1]Forbes, [2]PBS NewsHour, [3]Guardian, [4]Daily Mail, [5]Al Jazeera, [6]New York Times and [7]HonestReporting.

Narratives

  • Right narrative, as provided by Red State. CNN's politically motivated attack is causing great distress to Robinson and his campaign. The only thing left for Robinson to do is utilize every tool available in the legal system to clear his name and prove CNN was simply trying to stop Robinson from becoming North Carolina's first black governor.
  • Left narrative, as provided by Raw Story. The lawsuit is flimsy at best. Robinson's lawyers have failed to show that Robinson did not make the offensive posts; they've merely offered hypotheticals for how else they could've been posted using his data. Considering the lack of evidence of his innocence, along with Robinson's long history of offensive social media posts, it's unlikely this suit will get very far.

Predictions